This Jamaican Oxtails Recipe is fall off the bone tender and full of amazing flavor. It can be made in about an hour with your pressure cooker or cook it low and slow in a slow cooker.
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If you ever ask me what my favorite Jamaican dish is, I’ll probably say oxtail. It’s a recipe that my mom would make for special occasions. I wish we could have eaten it weekly, but oxtail can be so darn expensive. So it became one of those special Sunday dinners or “let’s celebrate something” dinners.
Oxtails usually take hours to cook. But wow, the flavor and the tenderness the oxtail brings are worth it. Lucky for me, I’m a pressure cooking fanatic and found that using a pressure cooker cuts the time of cooking oxtail by a ton. For this recipe, you can use a pressure cooker or even a slow cooker.
Ingredients Needed
Ingredient amounts and full recipe instructions are on the printable recipe card at the bottom of the post.
- Oxtail - Choose beef oxtail that is medium in size and of similar size. Try and choose oxtail pieces that do not have too much fat on them.
- Marinade Ingredients - Brown sugar, soy sauce, Worcestershire Sauce, salt, garlic powder, black pepper, allspice.
- Other Ingredients - vegetable oil, yellow onion, green onion, garlic, carrots, scotch bonnet pepper (or habanero), beef broth, thyme, cornstarch, water, butterbeans
How to Make Jamaican Oxtails and Gravy
First, I mise en place my ingredients by chopping my onions, garlic, and scotch bonnet or habanero pepper. Make sure to remove the seeds and membrane from the hot pepper, or your oxtail will be too spicy.
Then prepare your oxtails by cleaning them with a little bit of water and vinegar, and then dry them off with some paper towels. I know I know, they say not to wash your meat but my mom would literally cuss me out if I didn’t. So I do.
Next, season your oxtails with brown sugar, salt, black pepper, garlic powder, allspice, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and browning. Use your hands and mix, ensuring that your oxtail pieces are fully covered.
Now you can decide at this point if you feel like marinating or not. If I’m pressure cooking or slow cooking, I usually skip this step, and the flavor is still pretty amazing. If you choose to marinate, marinate in the fridge for 8 hours or overnight.
Pressure Cooking Instructions
Turn the pressure cooker on the “high sauté” setting. If using an Instant Pot, select “Sauté and press the “+” button until it is the “more” setting. Once your Pressure Cooker is “Hot”, add your vegetable oil to the pot.
Next, add your larger oxtail pieces to the pot, flat side down about ¼ inch apart, and brown on each side for about 2 minutes. Make sure you’re watching the oxtails at this browning stage, as you don’t want to burn the oxtail. If you do, your oxtail gravy will taste bitter later on.
You can choose to brown all your pieces of oxtails but I usually only brown the larger pieces of the oxtail. The smaller pieces usually don’t need browning.
Once you’ve browned your oxtail, deglaze your pressure cooker by adding about 2 Tablespoons of beef broth to the insert. Take a wooden spoon and deglaze your pot by removing the brown bits at the bottom. Then add your yellow onions, green onions, carrots, garlic, and scotch bonnet pepper. Stir and sauté for about 5 minutes or until the onions have softened.
Add dried thyme, oxtails (and the liquid from the marinade), remaining beef broth, and ketchup to the pressure cooker insert. All the broth will not cover the oxtail. You don’t need it to.
Press “Cancel” on your pressure cooker. Cover with lid, making sure the valve is set to “Seal.” Set your pressure cooker to cook on High Pressure for 45 minutes.
Once your timer goes off, allow the pressure cooker to naturally release. All this means is that you don’t touch it. If you’re like me, you may anxiously stare at the pressure cooker waiting for your oxtail goodness. After about 25 minutes, all of your pressure should have been released. Double-check by making sure that the pin button has dropped or switch the valve to “Venting” to ensure all the pressure has been released. Press “Cancel” on the pressure cooker and then open the lid.
Remove the oxtail pieces and vegetables from the Pressure Cooker and place in a bowl and set aside. I use a spider strainer for this step.
Then press the “Sauté button on your pressure cooker.
Once your liquid starts to boil, make a cornstarch slurry by whisking the cornstarch with water in a separate bowl. Slowly stir in the slurry into the pressure cooker. Add drained butter beans to the pressure cooker as well and stir them in. Cook for about 5 minutes until the sauce has thickened a little and the butter beans are warmed.
Return oxtails and vegetables to the pressure cooker. Serve and enjoy.
Notes on Pressure Cooker Oxtails
- It’s best if all your oxtails are medium sized oxtails that are similar in size. If you can’t get them the same size, no worries. It’ll still work.
- Oxtail that is too fatty will lead to fatty gravy. You want some fat, just not too much fat. If your oxtail is extremely fatty, use a paring knife to remove some of the excess fat.
- Scotch Bonnet is typically used for this recipe. If you can’t find a scotch bonnet, a habanero can be substituted. You could also use about 1-2 teaspoons of this scotch bonnet pepper sauce.
Looking for recipes to serve this Jamaican Oxtails with? Try these out:
- Jamaican Rice and Peas (Pressure Cooker Recipe)
- Jamaican Rum Punch
- Sauteéd Jamaican Cabbage
Other popular Jamaican recipes:
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If you've made this oxtail recipe or any other recipe on the blog, I'd love to hear your thoughts! Please leave a comment below. Your feedback is always appreciated!
The BEST Jamaican Oxtail Recipe
Ingredients
- 2.5 lbs oxtails
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 1 Tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 Tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
- 1 Tablespoon salt
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1 teaspoon browning
- 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 yellow onion chopped
- 4 green onions chopped
- 1 Tablespoon garlic chopped
- 2 whole carrots chopped
- 1 scotch bonnet or habanero pepper seeds and membrane removed and chopped
- 1 cup beef broth
- 1 Tablespoon ketchup
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 2 Tablespoons water
- 1 Tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 16 oz can Butter Beans drained
Instructions
- Rinse oxtails with water and vinegar and pat dry. Cover oxtails with brown sugar, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, salt, garlic powder, black pepper, all-spice, and browning and rub into oxtails.
- Set Pressure Cooker on High Sauté and once hot, add vegetable oil. Next, add your larger oxtail pieces to the pot, flat side down about ¼ inch apart, and brown on each side.
- Remove oxtail after browning and place in bowl.
- Deglaze your pressure cooker by adding about 2 tablespoon of beef broth to the insert. Take a wooden spoon and deglaze your pot by removing the brown bits at the bottom. Then add your yellow onions, green onions, carrots, garlic, and scotch bonnet pepper. Stir and sauté for about 5 minutes or until the onions have softened.
- Add dried thyme, oxtails (and the liquid from the marinade), remaining beef broth, and ketchup to the pressure cooker insert.
- Press “Cancel” on your Instant Pot. Cover and cook on high pressure for 45 minutes. Once timer is done, allow pressure cooker to naturally release.
- Once all pressure has released, open lid and remove oxtails and vegetables, leaving liquid behind. Turn Pressure Cooker on sauté. Once liquid begins to simmer, create a corn starch slurry by combining corn starch and water to a separate bowl. Stir into simmering liquid. Add drained butter beans into pressure cooker and allow to simmer for about 5 minutes, until liquid is slightly thickened and butterbeans are warmed.
- Add oxtails and vegetables back to the pressure cooker. Serve and enjoy 🙂
Slow Cooker Instructions
- Prepare the recipe as instructed up until the oxtails need to be browned. Brown oxtail over medium-high heat on the stovetop in a skillet. Once oxtail are browned, deglaze skillet by adding 2 tablespoon of beef broth. Add onions and carrots to skillet and stir until onions have softened. Add these ingredients to the slow cooker as well as all remaining ingredients, except the butter beans. Cook on low heat for 8-10 hours or until oxtail is tender. 30 minutes before serving, create a cornstarch slurry by combining corn starch and water to a separate bowl. Stir into slow cooker along with the drained butter beans.
Stove Top Instructions
- Follow the instructions above and then rather than placing in a slow cooker or pressure cooker, cook it on the stove on medium low heat for about 3 hours, stirring occasionaly or until oxtails are tender. Add the butter beans when there is about 30 minutes left on the cook time.
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Notes
- It’s best if all your oxtails are medium sized oxtails that are similar in size. If you can’t get them the same size, no worries. It’ll still work.
- Oxtail that is too fatty will lead to fatty gravy. You want some fat, just not too much fat. If your oxtail is extremely fatty, use a paring knife to remove some of the excess fat.
- Scotch Bonnet is typically used for this recipe. If you can’t find a scotch bonnet, a habanero can be substituted. You could also use about 1-2 teaspoon of this scotch bonnet pepper sauce.
Wynee L says
Is it ok. To cook the oxtails on high for 4 to 5 hours in the crockpot? Will they be just as tender?
Tanya says
Hi Wynee, I'm not sure but I don't think so. My rule of thumb is to stick to the low setting when it comes to tougher meats in the slow cooker. I do fear that it won't be as tender.
Jackie says
How do you cook ox tail over the stove.
Tanya says
You would need to cook them on medium heat for about 2.5 - 3 hours, until tender.
Kym morello says
That was delicious! Thank you for the recipe! Great flavors and fun to make. Marinated all-day. I ended up serving it over polenta and used garbanzo beans in place of the butter beans.
Tanya says
Thank you Kym! Polenta and oxtails sounds delicious.
Elizabeth says
Loved this recipe!!! Worked out really good! One thing I’ll note is I seasoned my oxtail with seasoning salt, before letting it sit in marinade. I also saved my marinade and added it to stock in crock pot for more flavor. Lastly for a more gravy-like texture I did 2 tbsp of cornstarch and 4 table spoon of cold water.
Angela says
@Elizabeth, hi did you add the cornstarch and water before slow cooking?
Edward L McSwain says
Enjoy
Jasmine says
I got my instant pot yesterday and made this today!! Turned out great! I had to make my own all spice and added a bit more starch water to thicken it up.
Bianca says
Could it use different beans?thank you!
Tanya says
Hi Bianca, it can, but these are the beans that are authentic to the recipe. Butter beans are pretty mild in taste so they don't change the taste too much. Other beans may change it. You could sub Lima beans or omit the beans if you like.
Elizabeth says
@Bianca, great northern beans worked great!!!!
Bev says
Also, I have the thyme plant...can I use that instead of the dried? Would it be equivalent in the measurements?
Tanya says
Hi Bev, I wouldn't recommend marinating longer then 24 hours. You could use fresh thyme (It's always hard for me to find). I would use 2 springs of fresh thyme.
Bev says
@Tanya, thank you for your response.
Bev says
Thanks for this recipe. Can I marinate for 2 days in the refrigerator before cooking or is that too long?
Tareka says
Can i use a slow cooker instead?
Tanya says
Yes, slow cooker instructions are included.
Cryatl says
Instead of a pressure cooker can I use a pot on the stove top? Like how much difference will it make?
Tanya says
You can, it will just take longer. Follow recipe as is but cook on medium-low for 2-3 hours or until the oxtail is tender.
Sierrajuicee says
This recipe is everything! My first time using my pressure cooker and when I say this recipe helped me a lot it did just that. First time not having to use hot sauce on my oxtails they were delicious
Rouel Pagtalunan says
Delicious recipe!!!! Thank you - the family loved it!
Virginia Gibbs says
I am doing on the stove top. Have I missed something...the liquid does not seem like enough to stew the meat? I have added the ketchup and the broth but it is just covering the bottom 1/8 of the pot.
Tanya says
Hi Virginia, the broth won't cover the meat, maybe about 1/4-1/2 of the way up. It's fine as you will be cooking it covered on medium low for a few hours, stirring occasionally, the other ingredients will produce more liquid over time. I'd keep an eye on it and if you find the broth cooking off, just add a little more beef broth.
Kim Maxwell says
What do serve with this?